Saturday, December 1, 2012

Enrique Nieto Peña: Violence Erupts as New Administration Takes Over in Mexico

Borderland Beat

Violence erupts as Yo Soy 132 destroys every business on Avenida Juarez

In the midnight ceremony the transfer of flag represents transfer of power

Enrique Nieto Peña
has become the new leader of Mexico facing the challenge of the drugwar without
a mandate earning only 38% support of electorate.Today marks the return to power of the powerful but corrupt PRI party
who is culpable of the drugwar, making pacts with drugtraffickers without thought of the welfare of the American youth, or a vision of cartels becoming so large, powerful and wealthy, they could buy anything or anyone, rendering administrations powerless to control violence and establish security for its citizens. To any logical person it would seem impossible
for Peña to be able to change a policy of boots on the ground without a massive
increase of violence, however he at times indicated he may do that, to what degree
is blurred In one
sense Peña is extremely lucky new president, for despite inheriting a country riven by violence and
corruption, he takes over a nation of nearly 117 million with a resurgent
economy that has become one of the most competitive in the world, surpassing
Brazil in annual growth rate. …Paz, Chivis(Video is the ceremony of transferring power)

TIME Magazine

Enrique Peña Nieto takes office today, Dec. 1, as the next
President of Mexico—whose young and otherwise successful democracy is beset by
narco-bloodshed (60,000 murders in the past six years), an underachieving
economy (average annual growth of only 2% since 2000) and a feeling that its
Latin American leadership role has been eclipsed by its fast-developing South
American rival, Brazil. Peña, 46, the popular former governor of central Mexico
state, convinced Mexican voters that his Institutional Revolutionary Party
(PRI), which ruled Mexico from 1929 to 2000 as a corrupt, one-party
dictatorship, has righted itself enough to right Mexico. (Read TIME
International’s cover story on Peña, available to subscribers.) He spoke with
TIME’s Latin America bureau chief, Tim Padgett, and Mexico reporter Dolly
Mascareñas at his transition headquarters in Mexico City. Excerpts (translated
from Spanish):

TIME: Your presidency marks a critical moment for Mexico.
What are the most important things you have to do to lift it out of its hole of
drug violence and anemic economic growth?

PEÑA NIETO: I’m feeling a renewed sense of hope and optimism
about what we can do in the coming years. First, restore peace and tranquility
in Mexico, which means altering our public security strategy: more effective
law enforcement coordination, stronger judicial institutions. Second, reduce
poverty and inequality. Some 52 million Mexicans live in poverty, and we’ve got
to seek innovative solutions that not only give them aid but link them to productive
activity. The socio-economic contrasts that persist [here] are unacceptable.
Third, revive economic growth. We’ve built more favorable macroeconomic
conditions in Mexico, but we have to promote more competition and raise our
levels of [bank] credit, build up our development banks.

﻿

In your 2010 book, Mexico: The Great Hope, you
criticize Mexico’s “ineffective state.” How will you make it more effective—you
won only 38% of the presidential vote and the PRI was denied a congressional
majority—especially when it comes to corruption, which costs Mexico almost a
tenth of its trillion-dollar gross domestic product each year?

Mexico has proven by now that it’s a strong electoral
democracy. Now we have to build a democracy that produces better results; if
not, then you get a democracy of disenchantment. That means combating the
social cancer of corruption. So I’m proposing an autonomous federal institute
to ensure more transparency in public records, and an autonomous
anti-corruption commission that would be part of Mexico’s Constitution.

Given the strength of the U.S. Latino vote in President Obama’s re-election this
month, this a favorable moment for immigration reform. What are your
expectations for bilateral relations, not just on immigration but the drug war
and trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)?

I see a lot of opportunity right now. I think we can start
moving beyond what is sometimes a monothematic relationship due to the [drug
war] issue. We can start focusing on prosperity issues again, like better
integrating our economies so we can present a more powerful regional block to
the world. The TPP is a great opportunity in that regard. I believe immigration
reform is a commitment of President Obama’s government, especially now that it
gives him a chance to respond to the great demand expressed by U.S. Hispanic
voters for establishing better mechanisms for [cross-border] mobility.

About the drug war, how do the marijuana legalization
measures voters just approved in Colorado and Washington complicate drug
interdiction for Mexico?

Without a doubt, it opens space for a rethinking of our
policy. It opens a debate about the course the drug war should be taking. It
doesn’t necessarily mean the Mexican government is suddenly going to change
what it’s doing now. But [state legalization] creates certain distortions and
incongruences since it’s conflict with [U.S.] federal [law], and that will have
an impact on how Mexico and other countries in the hemisphere respond.
Personally, I’m against legalization; I don’t think it’s the [right] route. But
I am in favor of a hemispheric debate on the effectiveness of the drug-war
route we’re on now.

To reduce Mexico’s awful narco-violence, you’ve proposed
a national “gendarmerie” and you’re putting the troubled federal police—15 of
whose members are under arrest for allegedly being in the pay of drug cartels
and ambushing two U.S. C.I.A. agents—under tighter control. But can you really
cut the number of Mexico’s homicides by half, as you’ve pledged?

Cases like the one you mention make it obvious that Mexico
needs a much more coordinated and professional judicial power, especially law
enforcement and prosecution that makes more effective use of criminal
intelligence. Only two of every 100 violent crimes in Mexico result in
convictions. But preventing violence and promoting economic and social
development are part of a vicious cycle. Without better economic opportunity
you can’t have better public security, and vice versa.

You recently got the PRI to push through a major labor
reform law, but your plan to allow private investment in Mexico’s state-owned
oil industry for the first time in 75 years may be more important.

This is a big energy reform that will require a
constitutional amendment. It’s a sensitive national issue for Mexicans, but I
think in modern times, if we’re going to realize our energy potential, we have
to expand capacity and infrastructure, and that means letting the private
sector in. Not privatization but private participation. Brazil is a good
example, so is Colombia. On the labor reform, President [Felipe] Calderón and I
saw an opportunity to create a more modern framework. I think [its passage]
signals more maturity among the political parties, more of an agreement-seeking
attitude.

But can Mexico produce meaningful economic growth if you
don’t reduce its suffocating business monopolies, especially in sectors like
telecommunications and building materials?

I am pushing legislation to strengthen the government’s
monopoly-busting organs. One of the most important parts of the bill is appeals
reform, to prevent monopolies from being able to resort to the constant,
endless litigation they use to avoid paying fines and sanctions. You’ll see,
I’m committed to confronting and combating monopolistic practices, because the
only way to realize the economic opportunity I’ve been talking about is greater
competition, lower prices, better products.

No honeymoon: Violence erupts as Yo Soy 132 and Francisco Villa PopularFront protests against Peña, destroying or damaging every business on Avenida Juarez and spray painting congressional building: VIDEO

Blood pouring from a gaping wound- protester is hauled to safety by fellow protesters-

The PRI is criticized for having aided monopolies. You
say you’re the party’s new face, but critics charge you’re manipulated by its
old guard. Has the PRI modernized itself seriously enough to modernize Mexico?

Yes. To get elected in Mexico today you have to compete like
any democracy, and you don’t do that by being manipulated. The big challenge
now for me and my party is to produce results. If we don’t, we can’t compete.
Whatever people may think of it, in its 83 years my party has also proven it
can produce results, that it can meet the demands of the time.

Many who know you say your best quality is your ability
to listen, that you’re a dialoguista who knows how to negotiate and
compromise, which Mexico admittedly could use more of today. Where does that
come from?

I genuinely enjoy being among people. I’m not a politician
who likes to read the people from a distance; you can’t take [their]
temperature that way. I play golf, I love Mexican food—it’s one of the few
cuisines in the world that can match France’s, and UNESCO backs me up on that.

We agree. But while mole poblano does rival coq
au vin, you’ve lamented Mexico’s reduced regional and international
leadership role. How will you regain it?

Mexico got distracted, in part by its security crisis, in
part by its deepening relationship with the U.S. I think we’ve learned that our
international leadership depends a lot on our internal circumstances. Today,
look at Brazil; it’s been an economic growth engine. We have to have better
social development, public security, economic growth. In the past, Mexico has
traditionally been out front promoting things like regional peace initiatives
and free trade, and when we improve our development at home we’ll project
ourselves more strongly outside Mexico again.Peña's Cabinet-click to enlarge:

Hey thanks for remembering some of us care about more than the gore. It's why I follow you. But the Cabinet photos do look like mug shots, appropriately so? We will see. Also is a very "white" cabinet.

you are welcome, I know stories like this will get a comparatively low views, and that makes me frustrated but I would rather have quality than quantity, especially the type of reader the gore brings. You should see the comments that do not make the page....thanks for following me....Paz, Chivis

that's funny, per previous posts, some of the cabinet fotos look like mugshots juxtaposed with a rather "white" cabinet. What does that make your American leaders, largely Anglosaxon, death row candidates?

His political party PRI sent several people to infiltrate the student groups YOSOY132 and to burn buildings, break windows and cause a disturbance so they can blame the students. They have already critically inured several people and one apparently killed by the police as a response of the mayhem they created themselves and will justify by blaming the so called student violence.

They did the same with cartel de sinaloa. Now that el señor guzman left they use his name to terrorize mexico. Everything that is wrong in Mexico is somehow chapos fault. Tje govt is killing whom ever they want and letting cartels do whatever they want just for money. Except chapo was smart and left when he got the billion

we need the pri in power to stop the violence and extorsion in mexico.. the pan has failed and increased violence, kidnap,rape and murder. when the pri was in power it knever, ever was this bad. that is a fact!!!! Anyone who has lived in mexico and can think logically can tell you that.

Mexico needs to be FREED from its 'HELL' and the citizens need A Future Without Violence and too much corruption. How much more can family oriented Mexicans take of this daily Narco War & Mafia MADNESS?!!

She was an ecology leader. She and 43 others who had been threatened by paramilitary groups were moved to a safety zone and were awaiting a time when it would be safe to return home. Six months elapsed, Juventina Villa Mojica and her child returned to their community where once again they were met with paramilitary groups AND DESTROYED, DENIED LIFE, MURDERED. Look at the photo again please, ¿do you feel it?

Only just some days ago nephews of the ecologist leader Celso Chávez Segura and Fortino Méndez Segura were also shot dead. The protection was there for those people! This savage treatment towards fellow Mexicans HAS TO STOP!

My commentary at the BDN web site was "Han destruido los sicarios la conexión entre madra e hijo", "the hitmen have destroyed the connection, the bond between Mother and Child".

This is once again, timely and excellent. Not all of us, want blood and gore. I follow BB for the information on Mexico, that is not available anywhere else. I'm deeply concerned about the new Presidente and his cabinet. Hopefully, historia does not repeat itself. My prayers to the beautiful country of Mexico and it's people.

5:58Fox was not PRI, he was PAN party president.The Drug war conflicts has dramatically changed in the past 10 years due to a dramatic increase in gangs, cartels, splinter groups, enforcer groups etc. It was CDG that really created the "enforcer group" when they recruited Zetas, thereby changing the part of the "war" conducive to violence.

I believe the violence would have escalated no matter which party was in office, and Calderon may have tempered the violence. To judge him fairly is to wait and see what the next 6 years brings. Deaths are not the only factor, insecurity, corruption, crimes such as extortion kidnapping, all play a part in the war that denies security to citizens.

PRI made a deal with the devil that allowed drugs to freely pass through Mexico to American youth. PRI did not care a rat's ass about the US. But they never dreamed that cartels would become so wealthy and powerful that they would have to choice to bow to the desires of narco bosses. Silver or lead. Calderon chose to give lead. I think that was the right decision. That said, I think his game plan did not include imperative elements and that was his mistake.

The reason it wasn't this bad when the PRI was in power before is because the ALLOWED the cartels to do as the wish without consequences. That is exactley what led to this. I can't stand those that want to make a deal with the cartels and have that look the other way attitude. That is what got mexico where it is in the first place. Now most likely Mexico will become a full blown Narco State.

Some people spend a lot of major time trying to put the material together to write a book and structuring each paragraph in the best way possible takes a lot of work and re-working, re-arranging and what you just got done writing sounds like it came from a book that was ready for press ¿and so when will this book of yours make it to the book stores? ha ha ha ...

if you thought things were bad in Mexico, you ain't seen nothing yet, they are about to get much worse, Peña Nieto is absolutely clueless and I think he is just a puppet paid for by narco traffickers, it is so sad and I am sorry for Mexico.

@7:11 Do you not understand the deal Calderon made with the Federal Police, Military and the Sinaloa Cartel. I don't understand how y'all can be so blind to this. It was a plan to shift all power from the states to a centralized Federal and single cartel ultra power. The PRI will give the power back to the states the way Mexico's constitution and culture expects it. Bottom Line.

As a hispanic living in laredo and raised in nuevo laredo i hate seeing tthe people i grew up with getting killed ect. ect. people can say wut they want but in mexico its not "el ke nada debe nada teme" anymore. the bad thing is that other people not cartel members r using the cartel names to take advantage of innocent people.

Give them a Chance too prove themselves at least peoples,i still have faith in mankind to learn from there past mistakes and eventually move forward.I just pray the PRI can bring down the bloodshed work something out once and for all with the Cartels.

Another stolen elections... They needed 2o more years with Calderon in power, now Mexico will slide right back into having a criminal government... The U.S. needs to build and un penetrable iron curtain at the border and close all ties with Mexico, let them sort it all out, it seems like they want the criminals so let them have them!

Give them a Chance too prove themselves at least peoples,i still have faith in mankind to learn from there past mistakes and eventually move forward. I just pray the PRI can bring down the bloodshed work something out once and for all with the Cartels."

People like you are fools, Cartel sympathizers, its because of people like you that Mexico is a haven for criminals! "Work something out with the cartels" Ya I bet you made your momma proud.

The ONLY thing to work out with the cartels is how to kill every last one of them!

Can't we all agree to disagree and concentrate on the real issues? Like all the innocents who continúe to die due to the insanity perpatráded by the US DRUG ADDICTS AND CORRUPT PEOPLE IN BOTH COUNTRIES??? In the 70's, there were alot of drug addicts in the US and before Nixon's WAR ON DRUGS (That's worked out sooo well), the US, MEXICO,ASIA seemed to keep the violence down. Now the US, is once again THE DRUG COUNTRY OF THE WORLD. Does anyone not know someone on painpills right now? Gateway drug to Black tar heroin from México. As my friend says(who works with substance abuse teenagers along side me), "Anyone in the US who blames another country for our addiction problems, is like calling a whore a slut." Let's all work and pray for the innocents in the world. Thanks BB.

As a American I do not have the intimate knowledge of how Mexican politics operate. By looking up some stats on the new president my concern is that he is not too connected to cartel members. I had a bit of a sinking feeling reading some background on him. Time will tell on how he handles the problems he is facing. Calderon seems so defeated and I am sure he is happy to be out of the whole situation. He tried with the military, but it is not working, too many in the pockets of the cartel. I just want Mexico to claim victory from all the misery of the past years. Mexico deserves to have a peaceful nation

@4:02am Yeah but 60'000 deaths???? doesnt that tell you any fucking thing?? or you just dont care.Dont you fucking call me a sympathiser too CartelsI SYMPATHISE to those Dead innocents amongst the 60k+ DEAD,that alot of hero's seem to forget about, thats what i have great sadness for.sympathiser too cartels? U fkn idiot!!!

"But the Cabinet photos do look like mug shots, appropriately so? We will see. Also is a very "white" cabinet" "white cabinet"Mexico you is fucked.Fuckin idiot,they are Mexican you fuckin loser?What are you,fuckin brown,how do you like it?

@4:02am Oh yeah too,your last line killing every last one of them.....GOOD LUCK.I strongly think Mexico cannot RID of the cartels without outside help,but fuk sake until that happens lets bring the bloodshed down a bit aye?

"that's funny, per previous posts, some of the cabinet fotos look like mugshots juxtaposed with a rather "white" cabinet. What does that make your American leaders, largely Anglosaxon, death row candidates"Look at this shit?They are fuckin horrible people.Always going on about race and the US"white"Horrible people.Lets be honest,i would bet that was a Mexican who made the white comment above in the first place.But the other reader thought it was a"white"person?Fuckin hateful.

4:55I believe they are calling Mexico racist, and that would be accurate. dark skin or brown skin are looked as inferior. Mexicans have a huge variable of color, and the whites rule. That is a sad and inescapable fact.

Thats your opinon chivis but i think your wrong and mistaken. There was plenty of wealth and power amongst the cartels(Arellanos, Amado carillo) when PRI had the presedency and the violonce in mexico was not out of control. PRI would negotiate understandings and peace amongst the cartels which kept violonce to a minimun.evething changed when PAN and Calderon took power and stated "never will pact with any criminal organization" and the peacefull mexico we knew then came to its end. Now with PRI back in power brings mexicans hope of a mexico where tourism and buisness flurished. "Junior"

White people and Spanish people are both from generally Conservative backgrounds and where I live in New York, we get along pretty damn good.I'm White and I love Hispanic culture, especially that of Mexico.We need to get past this Racist past and make things better for the future between our people.Fuck the racists on both sides!ViVa USA,Mexico and Ireland :)

"I believe they are calling Mexico racist, and that would be accurate""Mexicans have a huge variable of color, and the whites rule. That is a sad and inescapable fact"If it is true what you are saying,what does that say about other races?They are all Mexican?If they are racist to their own,where the fuck does that leave the rest of us?And yes,i have noticed it on here.At the end of the day,there is no need for it.What has race got to do with what kind of person you are?You get rats and good people in all races.All it does is make enemies of people who genuinely want to help somehow.How can you help someone who hates you without a rational reason?Its sad really.